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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Dubai Sweet Dubai

After several days of silence I have returned to the blogosphere with some real updates! In case you were worried about us or missed us during the silence, Hubby and I left last Thursday afternoon for a much-deserved weekend away from Kenya. Y’all know how much I love (most of the time) my life here in Nai-Robbery, but let’s face it – the need to escape into the Real World on a semi-regular basis goes hand-in-hand with living in the developing world.

During our trip, Hubby devised a new logo for our favorite Emirate: “Las Vegas for Adults.” Sure there isn’t any gambling and nakedness is generally frowned upon in the UAE but those aren’t the things that I really look for in a vacation spot. Dubai has it all: five star dining, first class shopping, and comfortable hotels designed to make you want to extend your stay for a day or two. Heck, we even found all-you-can-eat buffets that would put Vegas to shame! The final similarity would have to be the heat in this desert oasis. When your glasses steam up the moment you exit your air-conditioned hotel, you know it’s a wee bit humid outside.

One of the definite highlights of this trip was dinner at Verre, the Gordon Ramsay restaurant at the Hilton. Despite opting against the prix fixe we were still presented with a meal consisting of no less than seven courses. The meal opened with a selection petit fours, which included a truffle cream puff that was so divinely rich that I may or may not have stolen Hubby’s. From there we moved onto an amuse bouche of gazpacho, our individual appetizers and main courses, a “pre-dessert,” dessert, truffles, and then they brought us even more chocolate. The entire meal was not only expertly prepared but the service was attentive without being overbearing. By the time we paid the bill we were both slightly intoxicated and had sufficiently achieved what my Aunt T would call “an elegant sufficiency.”

I suppose that I can’t talk about our weekend in Dubai without mentioning the Mall of the Emirates where we gave my Visa card a healthy workout. They must pump drugs into the air of that mall because I bought several pink items insisting they were “cute and pink” – and I don’t even like pink.

The lowlight of our adventure was lunch at the Mall. Shockingly, I headed straight for McDonald’s where I ordered a Big Mac combo… That I hated! *sob* I could barely finish this ultimate sign of the Real World; and you all know I have been dreaming about it for ages. Yet my Mac tasted greasy and not quite like I remembered. Hubby said that it was a sign that I was maturing. *sob* Next thing you know, they’ll start calling me an adult and expect me to know what I want to be when I grow up. *sob*

The only other cool thing we did in Dubai was going to Wild Wadi Water Park. I wanted to go skiing but Pouty Baby said that he had never skied and really wanted to go down the water slides at this popular tourist hotspot. After a few hours of lazing in “rivers,” screaming down slides, and trying to drown each other in the wave pool, we finally headed back to the hotel. Best of all, Hubby didn’t even get a sunburn!

That was our weekend in civilization. And now we’re back in Nairobi and I couldn’t be happier. Like I said, needing to get out of town for a few days is natural around here but so is the pleasure of coming Home.

Approaching Dubai on a minibus from Al Ain, where I was staying with a friend, I loved the first view I got of the city: suddenly out of the enormous desert, through all the dust and haze, the tops of Dubai property appeared, reflecting flashes of sunlight. It was like a mirage and didn't seem quite real. I thought once I reached the city I would lose the image and the feeling would disappear but somehow even there, despite the numerous towering buildings the city is filled with, I still had the feeling that the desert could swirl up and cause it to magically disappear about me. I love the city and have been back quite a few times since then but I never forget my first sight of it

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